Escalight - 3ds Max tutorial, Photoshop, Flash, V-Ray, Blender, Free 3D models, etc

by Didik Wijaya

This is the last section of Cartoon Landscape tutorial. After you created hilly surface in Part 1 and projected road in Part 2 tutorial, now you are going to create trees, a lot of trees covering whole landscape.

1.We will create simple tree by using sphere and cylinder. Create them in Top viewport using parameters below. Position both object to create tree (sphere for leaves, and cylinder for trunk). When finished, convert one object, sphere or cylinder, into Editable Poly. Go to Modify tab. In Edit Geometry rollout, click Attach, then click another object in viewport to combine them as one object.

2. Next, we need to specify different material for leaves and trunk. Activate Element selection. Select leaves (sphere) and in Polygon properties input Set ID=1. Select trunk (cylinder) and enter Set ID=2. After you input each ID, don't forget to press Enter in keyboard. When finished, turn off Element selection.

3. Now, we are going to create Material. We are going to use Multi/Sub-Object Material. Open Material Editor. By default, one of unused material slot is selected. Click Standard button and change this material type to Multi-Sub-Object. Then, in Multi/Sub-Object Basic Parameters rollout, click Set Number button. Enter 2. You are only need 2 material, for leaves and trunk. Click top most button under Sub-Material (where ID=1). Change its Diffuse color to green. Name this material "leaves". Click Go To Parent button to go back to Mutli/Sub-Object Parameters rollout. Name other material "trunk" and use brown color. Click Go To Parent Button to go back to Multi/Sub-Object Material. Select tre object in viewport. In Material Editor, Assign Material to Selection button. Tree object is now textured.

4. Next, we need to multiply tree amount. Instead of using manual cloning, you are going to use Scatter. This feature is also found in Compound Objects. Scatter is used to create random placement of duplicated object.

Make sure tree object is selected. Make sure Compound Objects is chosen from pulldown list. Then click Scatter button. In Pick Distribution Object rollout, click Pick Distribution Object button and click landscape object in viewport. This means, duplicated tree object will be placed in landscape. Then, go to Modify tab. Enter Duplicates=30, Uncheck Perpendicular and check Hide Distribution object. Unchecking Perpendicular will make all tree vertical along Z axis.

5. Our trees are all in the same size To fix that, in Transfrom rollout, enter Scaling X, Y, and Z=90. Check Lock Aspect Ratio. Beacuse original tree object is too big, you can reduce Base Scale=50. You'll have trees with different size.

6. Move trees above until their trunks are above the ground. Sometimes you may find a tree is located in undesired location (like in the road or too much above the ground). You can convert tree object into Editable Poly, activate Element selection, select tree, and then delete or move to proper location..

7. Below is rendered cartoon Landscape. I add background image. I render this scene using Light Tracer (read Exterior Lighting Using L:ight Tracer tutorial here).

Download finished 3dsmax file here

Cartoon Landscape Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3

Any question or comments regarding this tutorial should be sent to:
Didik Wijaya, email: This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

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